Veneration of Vizier Kagemni at Saqqara: during the Late Old Kingdom and First Intermediate Period

Abstract

Kagemni is well known to Egyptologists as Chief Judge and Vizier during the reign of King Teti in the 6th Dynasty, and for his appearance as a character in the 12th Dynasty Teaching for Kagemni. He is frequently portrayed in modern scholarship as being part of a homogenous group of revered ‘saints’ or deified figures of the Old Kingdom. No substantial study exists of Kagemni, however, and the evidence of his posthumous reverence has been redacted in summaries of personal piety and deification in ancient Egypt. The primary purpose of this thesis is to re-examine the material evidence of Vizier Kagemni’s veneration in the Teti Pyramid Cemetery at Saqqara during the late Old Kingdom and First Intermediate Period. The material evidence of a diverse range of commemorative and funerary activities is considered: the clustering of burials in the vicinity of Kagemni’s mastaba, the invocation Kagemni in funerary inscriptions, and the occurrence of personal names which honoured him in the community buried in the Teti Pyramid Cemetery. The evidence demonstrates that Kagemni was clearly revered by the community buried in the Teti Pyramid Cemetery, who may have appealed to Kagemni as an intercessor, similar to a revered ancestor or significant family member in a kin-group; however, the claim that Kagemni was deified, or was worshipped as a deity, in the Saqqara region is refuted in this study.